The laborious cleanup process began Wednesday night and could take days, officials said.

“They’re essentially picking the cars that derailed from the tracks,” said CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle.

By late Thursday night, officials said 22 of the damaged cars have been removed from the area, leaving just two remaining. Crews said they expect to start restoring the train tracks overnight so rail traffic can resume.

“We work very hard to avoid incidents like this,” Doolittle said. “We’ve disrupted folks days and we apologize for that.”

About 100 people worked throughout the day. Crews will continue to work through the night to make progress.

Some of the rail cars could be set back on to the track, but others were so damaged they had to be taken to a temporary rail yard graveyard.

The derailment shook the entire town.

Four of the derailed cars were carrying sulfuric acid. Concerns about a possible leak caused police to barricade the entire town for hours.

A local school was evacuated along with a nursing home and four streets closest to the derailment.

CSX said no hazardous materials ever leaked.

Jamie Keeton was among the first to know there was a problem. Her home sits no more than 30 yards from the crash site.

“It rumbled like an earthquake. It was pretty intense. I haven’t been that scared since the flood of ’97,” Keeton said, “It was scary, it was pretty scary.”

“It was just like an explosion from the first hit to the last one, said Merle Williams, “The whole house shook.”

The crash obliterated the tracks at the center of the crash.

New pre-fab sections of track about 20 yards long, sit at the scene like life-size parts to a kid’s train set.

CSX isn’t sure exactly how long the cleanup will take but did offer a time frame.

“We expect this to be a matter of days, not longer,” Doolittle said.

Anyone with issues because of the derailment can call the CSX hotline 1-800-331-4031.